Video poker gaming machines are designed to replicate the play of a poker game. These gaming machines commonly include a video display device together with a set of player controls through which a player may place bets and take various actions in the course of a game. The cards dealt to the player are displayed on the video display device as graphic card representations. The graphic representations of cards dealt in a video poker game will be referred to in this disclosure and the accompanying claims as “card representations.” In some video poker games, the object of the game is to beat a dealer whose hand is simulated on the video display. In other video poker games, the player does not play against any competitor. In these types of video poker games, the object is to produce the best hand for the particular game, and prizes are awarded to the player based on the value of the hand without regard to the value of any other card hand produced by another player or simulated player. In these latter types of video poker games, prizes are awarded based on a paytable that correlates each possible card hand value to a respective prize level.
In view of the keen competition for players, different types of video poker games have proliferated over the last ten to twenty years. Gaming system providers continuously strive to provide new types of video poker games and interesting game graphics in order to capture and maintain player interest. One way to make games more interesting to players is to provide a high degree of player interaction in the course of a game. However, increased player interaction may be at odds with another goal of video gaming systems, to provide relatively rapid play.